WHY TO WORK

That people work for their subsistence is a patent answer to the question why people work". Work has been taken as an all pervasive entity which everybody, irrespective of his being small or big, rich or poor, aspires and tries to have. Persons not desirous of work are branded· as idlers and good for nothing, a sheer burden on the surface of the Earth. From time immemorial i.e. right from the history of mankind people are, all the time, in search of work. There might be different slants and stresses in the contents of work but it has been universally accepted and established that man cannot live without work. What are the driving forces which instigate and compel him to seek work? Answers to this question are many. Before attempting to find these answers, 'let us try to see what does 'Work' mean so that it may facilitate a clearer understanding of it in its totally.

"Work is a group of activities undertaken by an individual for his subsistence." Any activity that an individual performs is directly or indirectly related to his subsistence. The popular theme is that the term 'work' contains an economic motive which sets rolling a cycle of activities. Some people stop further enquiries once they reach this interpretation. Man works and in lieu of labour' that he puts into an activity earns some money. With these copper pins he goes to purchase necessary things; in common parlance, these basic necessities are food, clothing and shelter. Even among these apparently equal and important basic necessities, food is the most dominant one. Man's major portion of waking life is occupied by work. This work-activity regulates his life through a day's schedule. With the money that he receives in exchange for his labour, he buys food stuffs on which he subsists, gets clothes to cover his body, seeks a shelter to protect himself from the scorching sun, heavy rains or bone-splitting cold. So according to some people work is equated to earning food and appears to be a compelling philosophy of work.

Work as a purposeful activity connotes that behind any activity there is a purpose. Thus, man helps cyclone hit people with a purpose to alleviate their sufferings and boost their morale; a doctor treats patients for their speedy recovery. A teacher teaches students to make them knowledgeable, police keep a watch on law and order situation and bring culprits to book. Even the poor help the rich and vice-a-versa. We do not all the time discern an economic motive behind work but feel that some other purpose is, at least, equally active, if not more.

Work is instrumental, it is said, in the sense that it offers outlets for one's thinking; it is an expression of hidden feelings, a display of inner characteristics that ultimately bring satisfaction to oneself. A poet, with an overflow of powerful feelings, produces a poem which becomes a piece of literature; a playwright gives a vivid picture in his play of certain emotions. These emotions / feelings come out involuntarily from authors and set their mind at repose.

Work as an income yielding activity is not confined to basic necessities alone as the income can be expended on any other needs a worker seeks to satisfy. A shipping magnet earns money not merely for his livelihood; he earns more to satisfy his other needs. Mr. Carry Packer, the T.V. magnet from Australia, surely was not encountered with the problems of food when he started his novel venture of world cricket series.

When it is taken as an obligation, it does mean that every human being has obligations towards' his nation, towards his society, community, race, caste, creed or sect. He has taken birth on a certain - soil which demands from him to toil for the development and progress of that soil. It becomes his obligation to work for it, he becomes an integrated part of it. Madan Lal Dhingra, Rajguru, Vasudeo Balwant Phadke raised their banners against the tyrannous foreign rule to free Indian soil from the shackles of slavery. It was their obligation.

Man has pride in his work and his pride in work is impossible when his job has no significance for his immediate community. As a fish cannot live without water, so also the idea of men without society has no existence at all. In order to have a meaningful membership of any class or community, he must be useful in contributing to the welfare of that community. There may be a difference of degree not the kind of a role that man plays but the significant factor is that he plays a role for the cause of the society.

Workmanship is really a desire for social recognition of one's skill. The display of inner instinct through the characteristic role is meant to acquire recognition from the fellow brethren. A painter transforms his ideas on a piece of canvas and exhibits its show. People observing pieces of art appreciate the efforts of the painter and speak of him as a talented and gifted artist.

There is a possibility of a world in which the minority need work to keep a great majority in idle luxury. In highly industrialized world work of a single operation automatically brings a chain of activities which would have been performed by a number of workers at different stages of the process. Because of this automation, many workers are ousted from employment or work the result of which will be that they will not find work but sit in idleness which is purported to be a luxury.

In keeping with this thinking further, in the life of the nation, a period of unnecessary work or waste is needed. The view is in its extreme character but undoubtedly cannot be denied for how can there be work for all when one single person is able to perform the job of thousands of them. Hence, a period of unnecessary work and waste for the simple reason that people will be kept artificially employed in order that they may not feel socially useless, and secondly, they should not engage themselves in unscrupulous activities as an empty mind is a devil's workshop. We trace a reflection of the idea of occupational therapy in this observation thus bringing the idea of occupational therapy out of the premises of hospitals land made applicable to general public as such. Working for a living is a fundamental activity in a person's retention of his mental health. Therefore, it could be surmised that man will work not to earn money but for not losing his mental equilibrium.